Secretary of the Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy Suren Batagoda said the government plans to acquire several privately owned thermal power plants to meet the power demand in future.

The ministry focuses on purchasing three power plants as an emergency measure.

These power plants include the Puttalam Heladhanawi thermal power plant with 100 megawatts capacity, Embilipitiya Power plant with 100 megawatts capacity and Matara Ace power plant with 60 megawatts capacity.

Ministry Secretary further noted that the relevant cabinet paper will be tabled next week.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers Association Athula Wanniarachchi stated that these Diesel Power Plants could have been purchased for a lower rate last year.

However, the purchasing did not take place as the Public Utilities Commission did not intervene into the matter.

He further noted that his association did not recommend purchasing the Embilipitiya power plant due to technical reasons.

Elaborating on the matter, Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers Association Athula Wanniarachchi stated that it would be important to incorporate such power plants in order to provide an uninterrupted power supply to the national grid, when power generation by hydro power plants drops during drought seasons.